The present disclosure relates generally to dynamic video playback, and more particularly to methods and systems for seamlessly extending streaming video rolls based on viewer interactions.
Online viewable media, such as streaming videos or songs, are often accompanied by commercial segments (e.g., ten- to thirty-second videos or sound recordings) that are required to be played in part or in full before a viewer can watch or listen to desired media content. These generally brief segments can appear before the media content (pre-roll), after the media content (post-roll) and, if the media content is long, they can also appear at other points (e.g., the middle) of the media content (mid-roll).
Pre-rolls are usually non-interactive short videos that are often similar to traditional television or radio commercials, but various interactive types exist when applied to online media content, such as: (1) polite pre-rolls (also known as dismissible pre-rolls), which allow the commercial content to be skipped; (2) overlay advertisements, which have a user interface (UI) overlay that performs an action upon a viewer's interaction with the UI (e.g., stop playback of the commercial, open a link to a related website, submit/share the commercial on a social network, open a video gallery, etc.); (3) ad selectors, which allow a viewer to select one advertisement to watch from a list of available advertisements; and (4) real-time targeted advertisements, which can be presented to a viewer based on, e.g., demographic information associated with the viewer. What is needed, however, are pre-rolls, mid-rolls, and post-rolls that dynamically vary in response to user interaction.